As I approach my 70th year in physics, let me tell my younger colleagues about my adventures with computation. When I was 14, my father gave me a slide rule because I appeared to be headed toward a career in physics. Since then, I have had experience with many other calculating devices.

Smartphones and tablets are packed with sensors that allow us to take experimental data, essentially making them mobile physics labs. Apps exist that make it easy to capture and analyze data from these sensors, allowing users to study diverse phenomena such as free fall acceleration, the speed of sound,radioactivity, and many others. Commonly, the…

Before the advent of microcomputer-based labware (MBL), "time-of-flight" measurements for the speed of a transverse pulse on a string required elegant apparatus. This paper describes how to use an off-the-shelf MBL force sensor and a computer to perform the measurement. The data shown in this paper were collected using Vernier Software's wireless…

Our students like using the covers of their TI graphing calculators in an inquiry-based extension of a traditional exercise that challenges their preconceived ideas about friction. Biology major Fiona McGraw (Fig. 1) is obviously excited about the large coefficient of static friction ([mu][subscript s] = 1.3) for the four little rubber feet on her…

Much like a physical prism, which displays the frequency components of a light wave, Fourier analysis can be thought of as a mathematical prism that can tell us what harmonics or frequency components are contained in a recording of a sound wave. We wrote the MacScope II program so that the user could not only see a plot of the harmonic amplitudes…

Deals with the conversion of electronic hand calculators to timing devices. This article illustrates a conversion of a rather versatile calculator by means of simple and inexpensive circuitry. (HM)

Provides a simple routine which allows first-year physics students to use programmable calculators to solve otherwise complex electrostatic problems. These problems involve finding electrostatic potential and electric field on the axis of a uniformly charged ring. Modest programing skills are required of students. (DH)

Describes the necessary procedures and equipment needed to modify the American Association of Physics Teachers' (AAPT) pocket calculator timer so that it can be controlled photoelectrically. (SL)

Argues the failure of calculators to show significant numbers only predicates a re-evaluation of the types and uses of electronic calculators in schools. (CP)

Outlines a problem concerning the computation of hydrogen spectral line wavelength in a general physics class which is appropriate for computations on calculators with 8 significant digits of accuracy. (SL)

Describes a hand held calculator exercise for computing the Rydberg Constant accurately. (SL)

Describes the graphing calculator as a new graphical approach to standard physics problems. Presents a collision problem to illustrate its use. (JRH)

Presents a series of simple activities involving generalized two-dimensional motion topics to prepare students to study projectile motion. Uses a pair of motion detectors, each connected to a calculator-based-laboratory (CBL) unit interfaced with a standard graphics calculator, to explore two-dimensional motion. (JRH)

Presents four examples of physics problems that can be solved with a graphing calculator. Problems included deal with motion, harmonic oscillations, sound waves, and blackbody radiation. (JRH)

Uses a TI-82 graphics calculator to model the air drag of plastic, wood, cork, and foam balls during projectiles experiments. Provides equations and typical data table. (MVL)